Microsoft has released the first version of its new chromium-based edge browser for testing.
For the past few months, Microsoft is planning to replace their edge browser with a browser-based on chromium, Google open source base for chrome.
And now the new chromium based edge available to download for public testing. It is integrated with many Microsoft services including Windows Defender, SmartScreen, bing and Microsoft news.
The new edge browser is similar to Google chrome in appearance and runs on the open source Chromium project. It is now available as a Canary preview.
The Microsoft Edge Insider page consists of the three download channels.
- Canary Channel: Through canary channel, you will get all the latest release i.e you can test all the features as soon as they are built. The Canary version will receive updates on a daily basis.
- Dev Channel: It is very unstable and it should be only used to test new features. Dev channel releases are usually released weekly or monthly.
- Beta Channel: If you are interested in using the new features, with minimal risk, beta channel is for you. Beta channel releases normally contain all the features that a team has decided to put in, but it is still expected to have some bugs and performance issues.
Edge also support chrome extension. Microsoft has added a dark mode in the browser that can be easily activated by using flag. You will be also able to sync favorites across your different devices running the new browser.
Right now Microsoft is focusing on the fundamentals. Spellcheck and media casting are not available and also there is limited language support. Its preview build is available only for windows 10 and it will arrive later for other versions of Windows, Mac and other platforms.
Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge is still far from being used on a daily basis. There are many features that are not available yet.
